Many systems that make up the ITER machine have to respect stringent requirements in terms of reliability, availability, safety and maintainability either for the protection of people, the environment or the safe operation of the machine. International standards have been selected to manage the lifecycle of the different types of systems, to harmonize the work that is carried out in the countries of the seven ITER partners and to satisfy the French safety regulations. These systems usually have the basic means of local self protection designed into it from its conception. Additional levels of protections are provided by the Central Interlock System and the Central Safety System for those combinations of systems' conditions that are dangerous, even though each system may be within its own safe limits. The Central Interlock System deals with the safe operation of the machine while the Central Safety System deals with the protection of the people and the environment. This paper gives an overview of the Central Interlock and Safety Systems based on the current requirements, the survey of the protection systems and the application of international standards.